Sale could generate tidy profit

Continuing a wave of Gulf Coast lodging property sales fueled by years of tourism gains, The Carlyle Group is believed to be in the final stages of selling the Postcard Inn on St. Pete Beach. Washington, D.C.-based Carlyle is asking more than $45 million for the 60-year-old, Art Deco hotel, people familiar with the sales effort say.

Since buying the hotel for $32.5 million in February 2015, Carlyle has invested more than $1 million to enhance the 196-room property, at 6300 Gulf Blvd. Commercial brokerage firm HFF has been marketing the property for sale. Officials there declined to comment on any pending sale.

If Postcard Inn does trade by the end of this month, as is expected, it would mark the latest in a series of major Gulf Coast hotels to trade in the wake of last decade's prolonged economic recession.